Chapter 172 You Don’t Consider Me a Friend at All
The expression on James' face froze slightly. He turned his head and found that Snape had come to the infirmary at some point.
Sirius next to him pretended to look up at the sky.
He had already winked at James, but James was too excited to notice his look.
James was a little embarrassed to be caught by the person who spoke ill of him behind his back, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "What did I say wrong? Who else would do such a thing except you?"
The corners of his mouth turned down slightly, his expression seemed a little impatient, and he felt very annoyed by this groundless accusation.
He looked at James and said sarcastically, "If you have such a thing as a brain, please use it and don't let it be overgrown with splendens."
Upon hearing this, James exploded immediately.
Sirius and Lupin, who were standing beside him, covered his mouth one by one and held down his hands and feet the other.
"Don't make noise here. If Madam Pomfrey hears us, she will definitely kick us all out." Sirius warned.
Lupin gave Snape an apologetic look and said, "James didn't mean that. Don't be angry. I believe you would never do that."
Snape ignored the angry James and said coldly to Lupin: "The werewolf experiment I mentioned before is ready. If you want to try it, you can come to me."
After saying that, Snape turned around and left without waiting for his answer, as if he couldn't bear to stay for another second.
Hearing this, Lupin remembered the experiment that Jiang Li had once mentioned. His fingers on the white bed sheet curled up slightly, and his eyes were a little confused.
"What experiment?"
Before James could react, Sirius immediately thought of what Jiang Li had said in the Shrieking Shack.
"No, you can't go to Snape. Professor Malfoy is dead. If Professor Malfoy's experiment is successful, he will definitely not ask you to experiment on it. Don't be bewitched by him."
Sirius looked at Lupin seriously and said, "Since Dumbledore allowed you to study at Hogwarts, you are a student of Hogwarts and enjoy all the rights and interests that students should have. You don't need to care about what others say."
James didn't quite understand the situation, but he patted Lupin on the shoulder and comforted him: "Don't worry, I'll always stand by your side."
Hearing this, a little light finally appeared in Lupin's dim eyes, and he said gently with the injured corner of his mouth: "Thank you."
James and Sirius stayed in the infirmary for a while before being sent away by Madam Dom Frey, who told them not to disturb Lupin's rest.
As soon as the two walked out of the medical room, they immediately rushed to the dormitory and saw Peter Pettigrew.
When Peter Pettigrew saw the two of them, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes and he quickly covered his eyes with his hands.
Sirius entered the dormitory and closed the door.
James stared at Peter and asked, "Did you tell anyone that Lupin was a werewolf?"
"I didn't." Peter denied quickly, "How could I betray my friends?"
"Really?" James asked doubtfully.
"real."
Peter responded quickly.
James believed it a little and thought that this matter must have been done by someone else.
Sirius stared at Peter's every move, watching him constantly pressing the sleeve of his left hand back, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Do you have something in your hand? Why do you keep it behind your back?" he asked.
Hearing this, Peter's eyes flashed with panic, and he quickly forced a smile and said, "No..."
He stretched out his hand and opened it for the two of them to see.
"I don't have anything to hide."
Seeing this, Sirius still felt something was wrong. He looked at Peter's face and asked, "Why is your face so pale? Are you sick?"
"Nothing, just a little uncomfortable."
Peter felt that his thoughts had been seen through. Cold sweat kept coming out of his forehead. He subconsciously raised his head to wipe the sweat off.
"Peter, what's that in your hand?"
James saw something black under his sleeve and craned his neck to see.
"No."
Peter clenched his hands nervously and shouted excitedly.
Now even the thick-skinned James noticed that something was wrong.
Sirius said to James, "Catch him and let's see what he's hiding."
Hearing this, James immediately cooperated and grabbed Peter, preventing him from moving.
"You can't do this to me!" Peter shouted excitedly.
Sirius ignored his fierce struggle and directly lifted the robe from his hand, and saw the Death Eater's mark wriggling on his left arm.
The moment James saw the mark, he was stunned.
Peter took the opportunity to struggle free and quickly covered the mark on his hand.
"You joined the Death Eaters!" Sirius looked at Peter fiercely and said, "You betrayed Lupin, didn't you?"
James reacted and looked at Peter in disbelief and asked, "Why did you do this? Lupin is so good to you, aren't we friends?"
Peter tightly grasped the Dark Lord's mark on his hand, shrank his body, his eyes wandering, and said in a trembling voice: "No...it's not me, it's really not me.
I didn’t want to, either. The Dark Lord’s men caught me in the Forbidden Forest that day. If I couldn’t say something useful, they would kill me, and I wanted to survive.”
If Lupin's werewolf identity was discovered, the worst that could happen was that he would be expelled from school, but if he did not surrender he would be killed.
"Why didn't you tell us what happened?"
James couldn't accept his explanation, "We can help you too."
Peter raised his head, his eyes full of pleading and guilt.
"Please, forgive me. I know I made a big mistake, I shouldn't... shouldn't have done that. But I was so scared at the time, I lost my mind. Please believe me, I really regret it."
He knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, "I swear, I will make up for my mistakes in the future, as long as you can forgive me."
Sirius was calmer than James. He looked at Peter and said, "No, in fact, you don't feel that you have done anything wrong. You have always been like this. This is not the first time you have betrayed us.
No matter what happened in the past, you were always the one who ran the fastest, and we never said anything about you. But now you have joined the Death Eaters and told Lupin's secret. How can we trust you?
Peter, don't really take others for fools."
James, who had been a little soft-hearted just now, became serious when he heard Sirius' words. He looked at Peter with some disgust and said, "You really disappoint me."
Seeing the contempt in the two men's eyes, Peter could no longer pretend and his face darkened.
"Don't talk so high-soundingly. You two don't even consider me a friend. In your eyes, I'm just a dog!"